Pasta salad with salt cod tartare, olives and tomatoes
Spring is my favorite season, when sunlight comes back, colors and happiness too.
In this season I desire to put on my sneaker and go out for a walk to loose myself in the magic of nature that is waking up.
In this period it’s very difficult to me stay at home sitting in front of my pc or doing everything that force me inside four walls…
It’s time for renovation and changes, in the kitchen too: courses are more fresh and light, as this pasta salad with salt cod tartare, olives and tomatoes.
Some tricks before directions
Salted codfish is a product exposed to salting process that allow to conserve it for a long time, for this reason is already considered safe from anisakis parasite.
But if you want to be even more secure, after soaked, you can put it in the blast freezer (or buy it already frozen).
How to blast freeze at home the fish you want to eat raw?
You need to freeze your fish already gutted at a temperature not higher than -20°C and keep it in the freezer for at least 48 hours (24 hours is enough if you have a blast freezer that, compared with a common freezer, is able to cool food more quickly and at a lower temperature).
Later you must defrost your raw fish slowly in the fridge and eat it as soon as possible.
If you don’t like raw fish you can prepare anyway this pasta salad with salt cod tartare, olives and tomatoes using some boiled salted codfish.
In this case, to cook your salted codfish avoiding it becomes stringy, you can make like this: use preferably a pot of the right volume (just enough to contain it) and pour in the pot enough water to cover the thickness of your salted codfish piece, add the bay leaf and a garlic clove.
Bring water to boiling point.
Rinse the codfish piece under cold flowing water, remove fishbones and scrape gently the skin using a knife blade to remove possible scales.
When the water is boiling turn off the stove and soak your salted codfish with the skin pointed towards the bottom of the pot, cover with a lid and wait for 15 minutes (to be accurate, your salted codfish will be ready when its center reaches 45°C temperature).
After this time take your salted codfish from water, remove skin and split apart its pulp in not too much small pieces.
Pasta salad with salt cod tartare, olives and tomatoes recipe
Calories: 449 kcal
Ingredients
Serves 4- 280 gr “fusilli” whole-wheat pasta (or other pasta)
- 280 gr soaked salted codfish
- 70 gr pitted taggiasca olives
- 500 gr Pachino tomatoes
- 4 tablespoon of virgin olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves
- Dried chilli pepper as required
- Fresh oregano as required
- Salt as required
Directions
Rinse and dry your tomatoes, cut them into half and remove cores (the central hard part where the stalk is connected to the fruit).
Dice your tomatoes in about 8 mm pieces and take aside in a bowl.
Remove the skin and possible fishbones of your salted codfish, split apart its pulp in small pieces as the tomatoes ones, add them in the bowl and season all with virgin olive oil, your peeled garlic cloves divided into two parts, your crumbled dried chilli pepper without its seeds and sliced olives.
Mix your tartare and, if you need, season with salt, then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and keep in the fridge.
Pour a lot of water in a pot, cover with a lid and wait for it to boil, then adjust with salt, put your pasta into it and boil until just firm (“al dente”).
Drain your pasta and cool it rinsing under flowing cold water quickly, drain again, add it to the dressing, remove garlic cloves and mix.
Serve your pasta salad with salt cod tartare, olives and tomatoes garnishing generously with oregano leaves.
